Conversations with my 13 Year Old Self
by Cee-CeetheHedgie
Summary: "Not all pirates are as bad as you think." Nami looked up at her future self. She seemed so determined and truthful, and she had believed what she had said up until this point in time, but Nami wasn't ready to believe that. Not just yet, anyhow. All pirates were the same; lying, cheating scoundrels, herself included.


**A/N Look familiar? Read the A/N at the end for explanations! It's an old story of mine, with extra… stuff. And words.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE.**

"_You're angry, I know this,_

_The world couldn't care less_

_You're lonely, I feel this,_

_And you wish you were the best_

_No teachers or guidance, and you_

_Always walk alone_

_You're crying at night when_

_Nobody else is home"_

_(Conversations with my 13 year old self, P!nk)_

Nami huddled against the barrel, cradling her arm close to her as blood seeped through her fingers. It felt warm, a stark contrast to her frozen, clammy skin. Nami didn't care about that though, as she could hardly feel the pain from her wound because of the cold; it numbed her arm, forcing her pain receptors to dull and give up on feeling anything.

Just 70,000,000 berries to go, and then all of this madness would be over.

She tensed as she heard the yells of the pirate crew looking for her, scorn evident in their voices. If they ever managed to get their hands on her, they would tear her apart, limb from limb. Or so they say. She won't let them catch her, she still had too much to do, too many people to lie to and steal from, and just as many people to save.

Nami curled into a ball as thunder rumbled overhead, drowning out the angry shouts of the men and the gunshots that followed. She didn't want to know what was going on out there, because, knowing those men, they were mowing down anyone who they saw as being in their way and the streets would be decorated with the same substance that was still trickling down her arm. Suddenly, lightening flashed and screams could be heard, crying out in agony. Then, all was quiet.

No screams. No shouts. No gunshots or any sound whatsoever- It was eerie, to say the least. Nami waited for a few moments, the silence ringing in her ears, before sticking her head around the side of the barrel. She could see the pirate crew that had been trailing her scattered among the rubble that used to be the town square. They seemed to have smoke curling off them, their skin charred and burnt. The statue that had originally stood proud and tall in the centre was now a mess of tiny rocks and shards of stone.

Amongst all of the debris and bodies, a tall, curvaceous woman stood, admiring the trouble that she had caused. Her ginger locks flowed down her back with grace, curling and twisting as though she had had them specially done for this particular occasion. In her hand was a long, slender rod that appeared to be blue, though Nami couldn't be sure from this distance. A billow of something – smoke? Clouds? Ashes? – was pouring itself out of the end of the rod, before being snuffed out when the woman blew it away. Slowly, the woman started to turn in Nami's direction.

Her heartbeat quickened as she pressed herself back to the wall. No matter what, she couldn't let this woman, who seemed to have single-handedly defeated a whole crew of men twice her size, see her. That woman didn't seem to have any sort of remorse, judging by the way she was chuckling after beating the men up. She wouldn't hesitate in killing Nami, if given the chance.

As the footsteps of the woman came closer, Nami prepared herself for the worst, fear forcing her instincts to kick in. Just before she reached her hiding place, the young girl leapt out and ran for her life, not caring about the woman close behind her, her arm, or the fact that the bag of berries seemed so light-

The money. She had forgotten it. And now she couldn't turn back to get it, or the woman would kill her.

"Oi!"

Nami felt tears prick her eyes. All of her hard work on this trip had been wasted. Arlong would be infuriated that she had not lived up to her side of the bargain. He would-

"Oi, Arlong will be mad if you don't take the money to him!"

Her blood froze in her veins. What? How did she know? How did she find out that she worked for Arlong? That woman… she was probably a Marine! She couldn't let her catch her. Not in a million years!

The woman had other ideas; as soon as Nami had darted around the next corner, the woman caught her in a death grip, squeezing Nami's arms to her sides. No matter how much she squirmed or kicked her attacker, she couldn't wriggle her way out of the vice-like hold that imprisoned her. What the woman did next surprised her.

She pulled Nami to her, loosening her grip just a little. Before Nami knew it, she was encased in a soothing bear hug, with the woman whispering comforting words in her ear. She felt a pressure on her head as the woman stroked her hair, telling her that everything would be alright. But Nami was scared; this woman knew about her, and she was confusing her with her mixed messages. Why did she wipe out all of those men, and hug her? Who was she?

The woman pulled back, revealing her face to Nami. She looked so familiar. She had brown eyes, just like her own, and her ginger hair framed her face, the same way as her hair did. The resemblance was uncanny, and that made Nami feel even more uneasy.

"Who… who are you? And how do you know Arlong?"

The woman smiled sadly, her finger ghosting over the cut on her arm. Nami flinched, drawing her wounded arm away from the woman; she couldn't be trusted, despite her sympathetic smile and caring words. The woman sighed in response to Nami's guarded movements, and plonked herself down on the ground in front of the confused pre-teen. Crossing her legs below her, Nami did the same, albeit a little further away than she originally was from the woman.

"I'm you. Or at least, I'm what you will be. I suppose that answers your second question too."

Nami gasped, leaping to her feet. The liar! It's impossible for this… this _weirdo_ to be her future self! It would defy all logic for a future self and a present self to meet! Nami had to get away from this woman, and fast; she has obviously lost her marbles and could lash out at any moment due to her mental instability. However, just as she leapt to her feet, she felt a hand grab hold of her wrist, pulling her back to the nutter claiming to be her.

"Calm down, and listen to me. I remember being you, running away from a woman who looked a bit like me who I thought was crazy, especially because she had beat up a whole load of pirates that were chasing after me and then she hugged me out of the blue."

Nami gulped, not liking where this conversation was heading.

"I also remember being Arlong's slave for years, attempting to kill him at any chance I got. I remember being stuck in that awful, cold room for weeks on end, drawing maps for the man I hated most. I remember Belle-mere, the one woman I trusted in the whole world, being taken from me in cold blood by a gun, and the heartache I felt for the rest of my life after losing her."

Nami stopped struggling, turning around to face the woman who knew so much about her with shock evident in her features. Only she and Nojiko knew these things. Not even the villagers, not even Gen-san, knew about Nami's troubles. Maybe, just maybe, what the woman had to say had a ring of truth to it, if nothing else. There was a lull in the one-sided conversation, so Nami took the chance to study the woman.

She was pretty, with her eyes being her most prominent features. Her smile was small until the point when Nami had stopped struggling, changing into a large, dazzling grin. If Nami craned her neck far enough, she could just about make out a blue tattoo, swirling on her left arm where her own tattoo showing that she had been branded an 'Arlong Pirate' was. She couldn't be sure, but Nami thought that she could see a faint scar cutting through the tattoo, the silvery skin tinted blue from the ink.

Satisfied that Nami was now willing to hear her out, the woman – future Nami – continued to speak.

"But I also remember happier times, like picking mikans from the trees when they were ripe enough, and Belle-mere and Nojiko smiling over my map of Cocoyashi. "

Nami smiled as she let her memories of Belle-mere come back to her. Her red, oddly shaven hair; her familiar and comforting smell of mikans; her own special brand of 'haute couture' hand-me-downs from Nojiko; her laugh as she told Nami and Nojiko to keep on smiling, no matter what hardships they face. Not to mention her cooking, her mikan sauce was to die for-

Nami felt her smile drop as she thought that one word, the one word that she hated to link to her mother. Die. It was such a horrible, blunt word. Her future self seemed to notice the change in her aura, as she quickly started to speak again. Or maybe she remembered thinking those morbid thoughts, and wished to stop her train of thought. Who knew?

"And, even though you haven't experienced it yet, I remember the time I was saved from Arlong's clutches by a man who called me his nakama, and meant it. That's why I'm here right now, to give you hope when you need it most. Because I remember being in your situation, and that whacko woman's words actually comforted me."

With those words, the woman – future Nami – smiled, and rose to her feet. Reaching out a hand to her younger counterpart, she hauled pre-teen Nami to her feet, brushing off any lint from her own jeans and from her younger self's dress. Once any offending dust and dirt had been eradicated, the older woman hugged Nami again, but this time, the hug was returned.

Future Nami pulled away, patting her younger self's head before turning on her heel to walk away.

"O-Oi! Wait up!"

"No can do, I'm afraid. I have an important event that I cannot miss for the world."

"What's that? And how are you getting back to your own time?"

"The Pirate King's Coronation, of course. And I'll find my way back eventually. We don't get lost easily, y'know."

Nami froze in her tracks. Pirate King? Why on earth would she want to see the Pirate King's Coronation? Why would she be so happy about it? It's a filthy, rotten _pirate_, for goodness sake! She should be terrified, or bubbling with rage, not… _pleased_.

"Not all pirates are as bad as you think."

Nami looked up at future Nami. She seemed so determined and truthful, and she had believed what she had said up until this point in time, but Nami wasn't ready to believe that. Not just yet, anyhow. All pirates were the same; lying, cheating scoundrels, herself included.

"A-At least tell me… what will this man look like?"

Future Nami turned back around to her. Something seemed a little… off about her. Maybe it was the fact that her skin seemed to be glowing a little, or perhaps it was because she _appeared to be disappearing_ before Nami's eyes. It was a tad unsettling to see the empty street behind her through her body.

"Sorry, but that's something you'll have to find out for yourself."

She was almost completely gone by now. Nami could just about make out her outline and her smile, she was fading so fast.

"Let me tell you just one more thing-"

She never finished her sentence.

Nami stared at the now empty space that her future self had previously occupied. She wondered what she was going to say, had she not disappeared so suddenly. She stood like that for a long time, letting time slip past her, before she realised that she would have to hurry to get the next boat to Cocoyashi. Lifting her sack of berries, she threw it over her shoulder as she made her way to the docks, picking her way back through the charred bodies her future self had left behind. She knew the papers would have a field day trying to explain this tomorrow.

"SHAHAHAHAHAH! Our beloved Cartographer has returned!"

Arlong's voice rang through her head as she stormed past him, making her way up the stairs to her room. She didn't care for his 'Welcome Home!' parties that he always threw when she had returned from a successful trip; besides, she had money to count and hide in the place that Nojiko had told her about. She had previously hid all of her money in her room in various locations, but now she was running out of space- so Nojiko suggested hiding the money amongst the mikan trees at their plantation, where no one would touch it. Now, she just needed to collect the money from her room.

Throwing her bag onto her bed, she dashed around the room, gathering all of the berries that she had stolen so far into a pile. Opening the sack that she had used on this expedition, Nami stuffed the money into it, hearing a slight rustle of paper as she did so. Curious, she reached into the bag and ruffled around a bit, before finding a crushed up piece of paper with loopy hand-writing on it.

What the words actually said made her smile, with a sense of happiness thrumming in her chest.

She found out what her future self had to say after all.

"Oi, Nami!"

Nami brushed her long, ginger hair back behind her ear, smiling as she turned to the person who had shouted her name so joyously. She let her gaze fall upon the boy – no, the _man_ – who had called her, his red cardigan flapping in the slight breeze and his straw hat hanging by its string from his neck and waved at him to come over and join her at her deck chair.

"What's up, Luffy?" Luffy grinned, stretching the skin on his face further than it was supposed to go so that his smile would fit on his face. He sat on the deck in front of her with his legs crossed underneath him, giving him an excitable and childish air.

"I'm so psyched! Not long to go before Raftel now, right?!"

The cat thief laughed, not a malicious or sarcastic laugh, but one full of pride and love. They were so close to their destination that she was expecting the desired island to appear on the horizon at any moment. However, the New World, and the whole of the Grand Line for that matter, was unpredictable; they could still be days, weeks or even months away from reaching their destination. But compared to the length of time it had taken the Straw Hats to get this far, the rest of the journey would be a doddle.

"Luffy, you know I can't predict what time we'll reach Raftel. The Log Pose is made for _guiding_, not _timing_."

Luffy pouted, not caring about the mystery concept that was the Log Pose attached to his Navigator's wrist. His expression changed when a thought came to him, a question that he had forgotten to ask his nakama. He shifted his weight until he was sitting a bit closer to the ginger haired girl, peering into her face to see if whatever response she made was truthful.

"Nami, back at that other island, what did that weird guy say to you?"

Nami turned to him, her eyes widening in surprise. She didn't realise that she had been caught speaking to the travelling market man at the last island they were at, she had been so wrapped up in her findings that she didn't give the people around her a second thought. She hesitated, not wanting to make herself look like a fool in front of her captain. Truth be told, she had been inquiring about obtaining something so outlandish from the salesman that even Luffy would raise his eyebrows in disbelief.

Finally, she gave in to his unrelenting gaze, figuring that while he and the younger members of the ship would believe her, the rest would dismiss it as a tale that she had craftily made up to keep the hyperactive idiot amused and off her back about it for a while.

"Well Luffy, I asked him if I could buy a trinket that would send me back in time. He happily gave it to me for a quarter of the price, as no one was interested in buying it from him due to the very idea of time travel being so absurd."

Most of Nami's speech either flew right over Luffy's head or made their way in one ear and out the other, but two words stood out in big, bold, flashing letters.

"SUUUUGGEEE! OI, USOPP! NAMI CAN _**TIME TRAVEL!**_"

"EHHHHHHH?! REALLY?!"

"THAT'S SO COOL!"

"IDIOTS! NAMI-SWAN CAN DO ANYTHING WHEN SHE PUTS HER BEAUTIFUL MIND TO IT!"

"Huh, well that's an original story."

"WHAT WAS THAT MARIMO?!"

"WANNA FIGHT, DARTBROW?!"

Giggling quietly to herself, Nami leaned back in her deck chair as she watched her captain slingshot himself across the ship to unintentionally crash into the bickering duo whilst on his way to the other immature crewmates on board the Thousand Sunny. She paused when she heard a rustling sound in her back pocket, raising herself on to her knees so that she could delve her hand in between the denim fabric to pull out a ripped and stained slip of paper. It had yellowed from the years of lying, neglected, at the bottom of one of her drawers. She grinned, reading the words scrawled in a loopy, fancy font that could only be recognised as her own, letting all the old memories of that one incident when her life began to turn itself around before she even realised it flood over her.

The words were so true, yet so mysterious at the time when she had first read it. She had wondered how it had even found its way into her bag. But, after all the things she had been through, she finally understood what it all had meant. Her swift fingers didn't make her a thief for nothing.

Once she was sure that her nakamas were out of earshot, she finally read aloud what was written on the scrap piece of paper, the words that were always ever intended for her ears, and her ears only.

"_Sometimes, miracles really do fall from the sky."_

**A/N Sooooo? Did y'all like it? For anyone who thinks that they've seen this before, you probably have; I originally wrote this One Shot as part of my "A Thief and her Straw Hat" series of one shots, but upon reading it over again, as well as reading Demon Ragna's review of it, I decided that**

**It wasn't overly LuNa.**

**It wasn't that easy to understand at the end. It just kinda ended. No fanfare, no nothing. Just… the end.**

**So I tried fixing it. And this happened. The original is still in the one shot series, but I prefer this one more, to be honest. And if you're wondering about the whole 'fell from the sky" thing, Future Nami's basically telling her younger self an inside joke that she won't get until the day Luffy literally falls out of the sky and saves her. Then she will be all "Oh hohoho, I see what you did there!"**

**And the scene at the start, where Younger!Nami is all angsty and stuff is based on a flash back of hers from the manga. Go look for it, if you're interested.**

**REVIEWS PLEASE. I NEED THEM TO SURVIVE THIS BARREN WASTELAND WE CALL FANFICTION.**

**I kid, I kid. I love ff really.**


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